SERVING THE PEOPLE. These are the various activities of third district Rep. Kristine Alexie Tutor in the past week. She is shown facilitating the turnover of a new home to a couple in Alicia town under the Pabahay Project. She is also paying a visit to the headquarters of the 47th Infantry Battalion in Carmen, in an effort to reach out to various stakeholders in her district. She has been traveling in the different areas of her district to learn the needs and the condition of her constituents especially in this time where the whole world is facing a pandemic.
Alicia couple gets new house via Pabahay program
A couple from Alicia town gets a new house courtesy of the Pabahay Prongram, which was started in Candijay town and supported by third district Rep. Kristine Alexie Tutor.
The turnover of the housing unit happened last July 7, 2020.
The solon attended the turnover of the housing unit to the spouses Dalmacio and Luzviminda Curan. The housing unit is located at the sitio Caningag, barangay Poblacion, Alicia.
According to the office of Rep. Tutor the new housing unit is the 65th housing unit
turned over to beneficiaries in the third district.
There are other housing units under the program which are still under construction.
Meanwhile, the solon visited the headquarters of the 47th Infantry Battalion (IB) in barangay Katipunan, Carmen town.
She was welcomed by the commanding officer of the 47th IB Lt. Col. Allan Tabudlong.
USAID, Chatto convene gov’t, biz in virtual economic talks
Adaption and innovation were key perspectives discussed at an online learning session for business continuity and recovery convened by First Dist. Cong. Edgar Chatto together with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) via the popular online video communications platform Zoom last June 30, 2020.
Chatto partnered with the USAID through the Strengthening Urban Resilience for Growth with Equity (SURGE) Project in the online exchange of ideas to fortify Bohol’s economy by ensuring that local government, business and tourism stakeholders are at kept abreast with information. The idea is to stimulate business owners on how to improve systems, strengthen essential sectors, and protect the vulnerable amid disruptions brought about by the Covid pandemic.
The contraction of the Philippine economy was pegged at 0.2% in the first quarter of the year. The unemployment rate is at its highest since 1956 at 17.7%. An estimated 7 million workers were unemployed.
In Bohol, economic loss was assessed at P1 billion.
Business and tourism are the hardest hit industries in Bohol following the closure of non-essential establishments during imposition of the community quarantine.
USAID’s Senior Economic Manager and SURGE Program Coordinator John Avila cited exemplary resource persons that included Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez, Senator Sonny Angara, and Congresswoman Stella Quimbo during the virtual conference.
Puyat reported Bohol is a model for post-Covid tourism industry with domestic tourism driving the industry’s recovery spured by the re-opening of Panglao and as DOT continues to accredit accommodation enterprises.
Moreover, Lopez also confirmed availability of incentives for investors in the upgrading of establishments to comply with new standards such as Covid-proofing of facilities.
Government spending, fiscal and monetary policies along with exploration of new business models and diversification of sectors are expected to build both better business and consumer confidence.
For her part, Quimbo, principal author of economic stimulus bill in the House of Representatives, said productive spending will help manage the budget deficit, For this reason, the proper utilization of funds is being qinstitutionalized through the ARISE bill. The ARISE bill is the economic stimulus bill which is under discussion in the Lower House of Congress.
The economic stimulus bill, also adopted in the Senate,!includes provisions for Covid testing, wage subsidies, interest-free loans, credit mediation, e-wallet, subsidies for education, grants for technical assistance, Cash for Work, overseas Filipinon workers assistance, agri-fishery and tourism investments.
Angara,for his part, lauded Bohol for forward thinking recommendations for economic stimulus which were one of considerations in the crafting of the law.
Gov. Arthur Yap earlier on lobbied for the fast tracking of government procurements.
He also urged the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas for one-year grace period for loans taken out by tourism, transport, and manufacturing industry companies affected by the Covid pandemic
Yap also sought the help of the Landbank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines for financial packages to be extended to local government units (LGU).
Furthermore, Yap is also pushing for local government flexibility in raising funds and legislative backing for national government to open up local level large scale investments such as in the telecommunications industry.
Avila assured local officials and stakeholders as he hoped that stronger collaboration will help Tagbilaran City and Bohol to come up with strategies as restrictions are eased and businesses re-open.
The task is herculean, Chatto said of business continuity and recovery, and bringing together national and local executive officials and legislative leaders with business and tourism stakeholders in the learning session will help shape local response as well as policy development in the country so that businesses will not only survive but thrive.
He thanked USAID SURGE for being a reliable partner with whom he shares common passions and advocacies, including the use of digital means to level off anxieties of the business and tourism stakeholders and how government can help with recovery towards a better normal.
USAID SURGE led by program coordinator Rosalinda Paredes has been assisting Tagbilaran City led by Mayor John Geesnell Yap for climate change/disaster resiliency, land use and infrastructure planning, business competitiveness.
USAID-SURGE has been in consistent collaboration with the City Government of Tagbilaran and the Provincial Government of Bohol even back when Chatto was then governor of Bohol, in the formulation of strategies to expand investment promotions as well as in common interests concerns in road and transport connections, traffic management, and information and communications technology (ICT).
The lead agency for development and humanitarian assistance is among major partners of Bohol, with US Government and Bohol partnership dating back to the Governance and Local Democracy (GOLD) project in 1996.